Psychiatric Disorders

There has been significant advancement in the field of psychiatry over the last 100 years. Numerous scientific researches and behavioral studies have been conducted to understand the various mental health conditions that require attention and treatment. Based on the set of symptoms demonstrated by a person, a practitioner can diagnose him to be suffering from a specific disorder. We now also know which part of the brain is responsible for each of the disorders.

Globally, there are mainly two systems that identify and classify mental health disorders – Chapter V of the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) published by World Health Organization, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by American Psychiatric Association. There are more than 250 distinctive mental health disorders that have been identified and named.

To aid your understanding of the world of mental and developmental disorders, this section has been broadly categorized into Common Disorders under which you will find Depression-related disorders and Anxiety-related disorders and Life-Stage Disorders under which you will find Childhood Disorders and Geriatric Disorders. Other disorders such as schizophrenia or brief psychotic disorder have been covered in the Other Disorders section.

Information in this section has been written by the White Swan Team after extensive research and interviews with subject matter experts in the field. This is a growing repository that tries to answer your questions on mental disorders in the simplest possible manner. The medical explanation of disorders has been padded with personal stories, case studies and articles by experts to increase your understanding. It is important to know that this portal does not intend to help you make a self-diagnosis but instead aims to make you aware of mental health issues and their prevalence. Like with any physical ailment, early detection and intervention serves well in treating the issue. Do visit our section on Understanding Mental Health and read about the roles of experts so you can use this information to reach out for help.